ESA legislation on the move

March 31, 2014 | By REED HOPPER

Congress has been busy over the last few weeks.  In the House of Representatives, the Committee on Natural Resources announced four new bills summarized here that seek to increase transparency in endangered species decision making and to reduce attorney fee awards in citizen suits.  Also, a new bill was introduced in the Senate which is designed to override the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s regulation that limits the economic analysis for Critical Habitat to incremental effects.  The new bill would require a more comprehensive approach and mandate that the Service exclude areas from critical habitat when the economic impacts of designation outweigh the benefits to the species.  You can read Senator Pryor’s statement here.